Posts Tagged ‘Stadium’

The memories from the Minnesota Vikings Metrodome reign back all the way to 1982. It holds many more historical moments beyond the Vikings football games. From monster truck events to Kirby Puckett’s game winning home run to win the 1991 world series, the Metrodome earned its nickname as Minnesota’s “rec room.”

Early Sunday morning on December 12th 2010, the Metrodome collapsed after a snowstorm dumped nearly 20 inches of snow on Minneapolis.

“We’ve worked particularly close with the Vikings over the last two or three years on plans and designs and steps and obviously it can’t help but call attention to the fact that the facility is 28 years old,” Terwilliger said. “It’s one of the oldest facilities in the NFL. There’s a problem when we run this risk of not being able to play a game, because it’s a huge economic hit to the team. But the policymakers will handle these issues.”

This 2013 season for the Vikings will be the last seasons played at this location. The Mall of America Field (Metrodome) will be demolished and the team will be playing at the University of Minnesota’s football TCF Bank Stadium in 2014-2015.

The new stadium will seat approximately 65,000 fans, and can expand to 73,000 seats for a super bowl. 150 suits and up to 7,500 club seats. Compared to the Metrodome, Viking Fans will have more restrooms, enhanced concessions, wider concourses, better accessibility for fans with disabilities, and more space for tailgating and pre-game activities.

The total project cost will be $975 million.

The Vikings have guaranteed 49% of the cost will be privately covered.

They will rely on NFL financing and private financing to cover the rest.

The rest, $498 million will be split between the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota and will not include new taxes or have a negative impact on the State’s general fund.

“The City’s $150 million contribution will be paid by redirecting a portion of the current “Convention Center Taxes, while the State will issue appropriation bonds for $348 million. The appropriation bonds will be repaid through the modernization of State-authrorized charitable gaming that includes electronic pull-tabs and bingo.” (http://www.vikings.com/stadium/new-stadium/faq.html)

The Atlanta Falcons’ came out with a plan back in April of 2013 to build a brand new $1 billion retractable-roof stadium by 2017 in downtown Atlanta. After over two years of negotiations, the city’s economic development armed voted 8-1 in approving the issue of over $200 million in bonds from Atlanta city’s hotel-motel taxes to help with the funding of the new stadium. Since the current Georgia Dome stadium was built only 21 years ago in 1992, this raised a lot of questions and concerns. The questions are exemplified by something along the lines of why now, why is this necessary, the stadium just turned old enough to drink! Falcons owner says

We’re not simply swapping one stadium for another. We’re building a best-in-class facility that will help us attract new events and retain the Falcons.

A bit, but that’s money long since stolen via the hotel tax, which by law must go towards ‘Promoting tourism, conventions, and trade shows.’ There are local costs to it, as there are with any tax, but the direct amount of money in theory is coming from tourism taxes levied on hapless conventioneers breezing through town.

When it comes to using public funding, it seems like something that is rather hard to swallow. If after 21 years, the Falcons for some reason need a new stadium that is still relatively new, shouldn’t we be asking more questions? It seems as though this hotel-motel tax could be used for a cause beneficial for more people as well as a better cause. $200 million is no small fee, which yes, gives the new stadium a good step in the financial direction that they need but it could be better used for other things within Atlanta. Using this $200 could be used towards education, construction in the city, or many other aspects that could be beneficial to many people around the city, rather than just the team and the people surrounding the sport.

In a recent article by Ron Stephens, public funding will be what makes the Atlanta Falcons a new home. With Georgia being one of the hottest tourist attractions in the United States, hotels are a booming source of revenue. This is why $300 million dollars of hotel and motel taxes will be used to build a new billion dollar stadium. While the Atlanta Falcons already have a stadium to play at, the state of Atlanta believes by having a modern facility that is competitive, flexible and functional, they will be able to host marquee events as well as enjoy the economic benefits. However, people ask the question “why should the public invest $300 in a stadium for the falcons”, and it was answered “you’re looking at it backwards, the Falcons are investing $700 million in a stadium for Georgia. The stadium will be an asset to the state and will generate economic benefits long after the public investment is recouped”.

The document in this link http://cbsminnesota.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/nfl-funding-summary-12-2-11.pdf , shows the private money spent on stadiums and the public. Most of the people building the stadiums see the investment as a great economic benefit which will help the public in the long run. I believe this is true because the stadium will add more than 4,500 to the states economy as well as $400 million in economic impact during construction. The article went on to explain how having a modern stadium will bring the opportunity to host huge events such as the super bowl or the world cup. Bringing in an audience from one of those events to Georgia will be a huge revenue builder for the states economy. I believe in this certain situation, using public funding is making a good opportunity into a great investment.

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